Jean-Jacques Dessalines

Jean-Jacques Dessalines (20 September 1758-17 October 1806) was the Emperor of the First Haitian Empire from 2 September 1804 to 17 October 1806, preceding Henri Christophe and Alexandre Petion.

Biography
Jean-Jacques Dessalines was born on 20 September 1758 in Grande Riviere du Nord, Saint-Domingue to a family of African slaves owned by the French Dessalines family. In 1791, he joined Toussaint L'ouverture's army during the Haitian Revolution against France and Spain in Hispaniola, and he had a take-no-prisoners policy, burning down homes and villages during the revolution. Unfortunately, the democratic L'ouverture was captured by the French and died in prison, so Dessalines was able to declare himself Emperor of the First Haitian Empire on 2 September 1804, declaring Haiti an independent state from France. Dessalines had a reign of terror, killing 5,000 white French people in the 1804 Haitian genocide, aimed at removing the white race from Haiti. However, he was assassinated on 17 October 1806 at Alexandre Petion's house in a coup by Petion and Henri Christophe, and they divided Haiti between them.